A soft hand
A soft hand is any hand that counts an ace as 11 rather than 1. The hand is soft because it can’t bust on the next card. For example, if you hit (take another card) a soft 18 (an ace and a 7) with a 6, the ace automatically reverts to 1 (rather than 11), and the hand total is now 14 (rather than 24, which would be a bust).
Whether a dealer hits or stands on a soft 17 is usually spelled out in bold white letters right on the felt.
